The F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says life is about working hard and playing hard.
Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

1. Max Verstappen will be an F1 world champion

An F1 blog-troll said the Dutch 16-year-old was too young to drive for Toro Rosso – after all he didn’t even have a driving licence. Now we know that we are witnessing a great driver in the making and it’s been the most exciting thing this season. Verstappen is just 18 and one of the best out there: points-scoring finishes in the last six races, with fourth places in Hungary and Austin his best results. He reminds many people of Sebastian Vettel, who said: “He is one to be up there in the future. I’m sure he’ll make us worried, the older generation, which I’m part of now.”

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2. Lewis Hamilton is a party animal

At McLaren he wasn’t allowed to burn the candle even at one end. But Mercedes have a more relaxed attitude towards their world champion. When he pranged his 200mph Pagani Zonda supercar in Monaco recently, colliding with three parked cars, he said it was because of “heavy partying and not much rest for a week and a half”. After winning the world championship for the third time, in Austin last month, he added for good measure: “I don’t think I could be enjoying life any more. I’ve been enjoying this year like – if only you knew. I’ve been enjoying this year like it was my last. It’s just work hard, play hard.” Interesting to see what Mercedes do if he underperforms next season.

3. McLaren won’t be competitive in 2016 either

Ron Dennis, one of F1’s greatest achievers, famously has every room in his house and at his Woking HQ set at 21C, which he judges to be the ideal temperature, but it is feeling a lot hotter than that now. McLaren are heading for their worst season since 1980. The F1 circuits of the world are little more than exotic parking bays for Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button and all the blame can’t be nailed on Honda’s woeful power unit: take away the engine and the car’s not too hot either. About 21C.

4. Texas hosted the best race of the year in Austin – but F1 just can’t hack it in the USA

There are more former F1 tracks in American than anywhere in the world. A combination of awful weather and the introduction of a new race in Mexico was a double-whammy for Austin’s Circuit of the Americas. The race has been run here since 2012 but in that short time has become one of the most popular with teams and spectators, but after a funding cut the future is “not looking good”, according to its circuit chairman, Bobby Epstein. Hard to imagine that in 1982 there were three grands prix staged in the US.

5. Formula One is still in a fine old mess

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The best contest this season has been off the track, the power struggle between Ferrari and Mercedes on one side and the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone on the other. Jean Todt’s “leadership” of the FIA has again been a disaster, while ringmaster Ecclestone clearly does not have the clout he once enjoyed. As Red Bull’s Christian Horner pointed out in Abu Dhabi about half the teams are insolvent. Lotus, one of the biggest names in the paddock, don’t even know if they will be around next season – they didn’t know whether they were racing in Abu Dhabi until Ecclestone bailed them out. Meanwhile, CVC has made billions from the sport and done very little in return. Horner: “We need to get Formula One back to being a sport that is enthralling to the public.”